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The Canadian Grand Prix had been alternating between Mosport Park, near Toronto, and Circuit Mont-Tremblant, north of Montreal. Early in 1972, the owners of Circuit Mont-Tremblant suddenly closed the track. Mosport was able to find a sponsor and host the race, and seemed to be the logical choice for years to come.

BRM: With the large amount of prize money available for the North American races, BRM planned to run four cars at each race. But one problem cropped up when designer Tony Southgate abruptly quit, to go work with the new Shadow team, due to start in F1 next season. Another problem was Reine Wisell would be driving for Lotus in North America, so they had to scramble a bit to find a fourth driver. Local driver Bill Brack, regarded as something of an expert regarding Mosport and who had driven in the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix for BRM, was given the second P180, which had never been raced in a championship event.

March: As at Monza, Niki Lauda's car arrived with a full width nose and twin front radiators. After Friday, the radiators were moved back to the side of the monocoque.

Skip Barber was driving a 711 that had been entered in several races in 1971, and had been used by Barber in the 1972 North American Formula 5000 (known as 'Formula A') season. The cars sported a number of the team's own modifications to the suspension and bodywork, and Robin Herd, chief designer of March, was seen discussing the changes with the team.

Matra: The company had announced that they would be withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the season, to focus on prototype endurance racing, and Le Mans in particular. In a cost-cutting move, only one car and a minimum of personnel had been sent across the Atlantic.

Surtees: Mike Hailwood skipped this race to run in the Formula 2 race at Albi, France. Hailwood was leading the Formula 2 championship battle. John Surtees was entered in the TS14 again, but he never took to the track.

Tecno: Nanni Galli was at the Albi Formula 2 race, so Derek Bell was driving the newer chassis. He described the difference in the two cars as 'like night and day'.

Tyrrell: Since all of the bugs had been worked out of Jackie Stewart's 005, the team was able to complete work on the almost-identical 006 for François Cevert. The car had not undergone much testing, though, and the team still had the old series 004 as a spare.

Williams: For the first time in months, the team did not have to build a new car for Henri Pescarolo. So the team did a great deal of testing on the Politoys, but did not solve the driveshaft problems. Frank Williams decided to just keep the Marchs running for North America, and leave the R&D people in Europe to prepare for 1973. But both March cars were fitted with the solid conical wheels first seen on the Politoys.